How to Help Guests Feel Welcome In God’s House, Pt.1

Every week at The Dialogue Church we have the opportunity to make guests feel welcome in God’s House (the local church). One of our core values is that “people far from God really do matter to Him” and its our responsibility to help our guests feel welcome in His House! So, let’s talk about how to PREPARE FOR THE WELCOME!

For most of our guests they have never really been a part of a church, and for many they have never even been to a church (except for a funeral or wedding) – and we know how those can make us feel.  Most of our guests are unchurched, meaning they aren’t already part of a church anywhere and typically never have been.

For most people, going to any place as the new comer can be quite intimidating and nerve wracking.  I remember recently going to “an event” and I was the new comer.  I wanted so badly for someone to notice me and greet me, but not attack me and try and get me to do something I didn’t feel comfortable doing.  Most of our guests are looking for something spiritual, something that will connect them with the divine, the transcendent, the other side, the other world, the other Way.  They don’t know how to describe it and they don’t know how to define it, but they sense IT is there and they want to not just learn, but connect, they want to experience, they want to breathe it in, they want to consume it, wrestle with it, discover it, and bump & grind with it.  But by no means do they want to admit or convey that they are RELIGIOUS – but they are looking for something spiritual.

As a pastor I can get sidetracked and think that because unchurched people don’t want to associate with anything “religious” that they in fact don’t want anything spiritual, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  I believe we live in a generation and culture that is craving the supernatural.  Look at the rise of everything paranormal, supernatural, and other-worldly; in the movies, music, and all over the web people are going crazy for the supernatural.

So, the challenge for the church of Jesus isn’t to get people interested in the supernatural, its to show people the SUPERNATURAL POWER OF GOD THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST!

I believe when people come to our churches they want to see, hear, and experience the SUPERNATURAL.  Well, the best way for that to happen is to teach them about Jesus, let them rub shoulders with the people of Jesus, bump fists with the Body of  Christ, have conversation with the kids of the Creator, and intermingle their lives with the culture of the Kingdom!

One more thing about preparing for the WELCOME…I have a very high view of the church (my ecclesiology).  I simply believe that there is no greater place for someone in your community to go than your local church.  Why? Because the local church is the only prescribed agent by God to make known the message of Jesus Christ, the local church is the only organism on earth with a promise to be unstoppable with hope, faith, and love!  If someone in your community had received an invitation to the White House and an invitation to your local church – then I would vote for the local church.  Don’t get me wrong, meeting the President of the greatest country in the world would be a very high honor, BUT JUST IMAGINE GOING INTO GOD’S HOUSE AND MEETING THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS; I mean really meeting Him for the very first time and finding out that He has invited you to sit at the table with Him, to be a part of His family for all eternity.  Well, I would say that is an invitation you don’t want to pass up.